ESPNU To Broadcast 2023 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships Uninterrupted

NEW ORLEANS – The USTFCCCA has once again combined efforts with ESPN and is pleased to announce that the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships will be presented live via telecast via ESPN’s linear channels and through ESPN’s online platforms.

The thrilling, unpredictable event returns to live television for the fourth year in a row, as the upcoming 2023 championships will be exclusively presented on ESPNU and available through the ESPN App on Saturday, November 18, starting at 9:30 a.m., Eastern. The broadcast begins 30 minutes earlier than previous years and will feature a preshow with guest pickers, interviews and more.

LINK: Watch 2023 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships

The USTFCCCA had previously worked with ESPN to produce each of the three prior championships, in addition to collaborating with other broadcast partners to air the 2008 and 2009 championships. To date, those have been the only live telecasts of the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

The two-and-a-half hour live telecast on November 18 will feature, without commercial interruption, the women’s six-kilometer, national-championship race at 10:20 a.m., Eastern, with the men’s 10-kilometer, national-championship race to follow at 11:10 a.m., Eastern.

Post-championships coverage and the ensuing awards ceremonies will be streamed live on ESPN3 and through the ESPN App on mobile and connected devices.

LINK: Watch Post-Championship Coverage of #NCAAXC23

The event will take place at Panorama Farms in Earlysville, Virginia. The University of Virginia is hosting the national championship for the first time since 1987.

Truly unique in the collegiate sporting landscape, no other sport features the number of institutions represented on the field-of-play at one time as compared to cross country. Thirty-one teams in each race will battle to raise an NCAA Division I national-championship trophy while up to 255 student-athletes per race will be vying for individual glory.

Teams and individuals chosen to compete in the championships were first revealed via a selection show this past Saturday on NCAA.com.

NC State’s women and Northern Arizona’s men are the defending champions, having topped the podium last year in Stillwater, Oklahoma. It was the Wolfpack’s second national title in a row, while the Lumberjacks added to their dynasty with a third in a row and sixth in the past seven years. Katelyn Tuohy, who won the women’s individual title last year, returns and hopes to become the first back-to-back winner since Sheila Reid in 2010 and 2011.

The championships telecast, produced by the USTFCCCA in coordination with TrackTown Productions, will be hosted by SportsCenter’s John Anderson with Carrie Tollefson and Kyle Merber providing analysis and play-by-play.

Anderson and Tollefson have previously teamed up on nine broadcasts of the TCS New York City Marathon as well as the past three broadcasts of the NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Anderson, a staple for ESPN’s SportsCenter, has provided hosting and play-by-play commentary for several collegiate track & field and cross country events across ESPN networks. He has also hosted The Bowerman Presentation eight times.

Tollefson, a five-time NCAA champion and 2004 Olympian, won the Division I cross country individual title as a junior in 1997 and she led the Villanova Wildcats to the cross country national-championship crown during her 1998 senior campaign. Her work as an analyst has been featured previously with ESPN, ABC, NBC, NBCSN, and USATF.tv — a bevy of work that has featured many world-class running events.

Merber is a former professional runner with a mile personal best of 3:52.22, who was also once the second-fastest man in collegiate history over 1500 meters. In addition to working in marketing and partnerships at American Express, he writes a weekly newsletter called The Lap Count providing commentary and analysis for CITIUS MAG.